Systems and methods for providing remote access to interactive media guidance applications

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for remotely accessing user equipment implementing an interactive media guidance application are provided. In particular, a method includes the steps of receiving user equipment identification information and receiving a user request from a user device indicating instructions for the user equipment. The user request is cross-referenced with an action request in a user equipment format selected from a plurality of formats to be compatible with the user equipment. The action request is transmitted for receipt by the user equipment for enabling execution of the indicated instructions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to media systems, and moreparticularly, to systems and methods for providing remote access tointeractive media guidance applications.

Recent advances in media communications technology have made it possiblefor users to access interactive media guidance applications implementedon user equipment without being in physical proximity to the userequipment. For example, users of interactive media guidance applicationsin, some systems may remotely schedule recordings of televisionprograms. In such systems, the user's set-top box is coupled to a remoteprogram guide access server through a communications network. When awayfrom home, the user may connect to the remote access server (or anintermediate server such as a web server) through a device, such as apersonal computer, to remotely schedule recording with the interactivemedia guidance application on the user's in-home set-top box.

In some cases, a user may want to be able to access more than oneset-top box, for example, if they have more than one television at home,each with its own set-top box. Each set-top box may be remotelyaccessible, however, the remote access server for one set-top box maynot be compatible with the interactive media guidance application ofanother set-top box (e.g., if the boxes have different applicationprogram interfaces), requiring the user to connect to multiple remoteaccess servers to access the multiple set-top boxes. In some cases, auser may prefer to use a particular remote access server for accessingset-top boxes, in which case it would be desirable if the remote accessserver could access different types of set-top boxes regardless ofvendor, model, or other characteristics of set-top boxes.

In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide remote accesssystems and methods that support algorithms and techniques forfacilitating the communication of requests initiated at remote locationsfor transmittal to interactive media guidance applications. Inparticular, it would be desirable to provide a remote access systemcapable of communicating requests to multiple interactive media guidanceapplications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with principles of the present invention, systems andmethods for remotely accessing user equipment implementing aninteractive media guidance application are provided. In particular, ageneral remote access service for enabling communication and managementof multiple user equipment devices, such as digital video recorders thatmay be from multiple vendors, is provided. A user may use the generalremote access service to send requests, such as scheduling a recordingor reminder or setting user preferences, either directly to the userequipment device (e.g., a digital video recorder located at anaddressable internet protocol address) or to an intermediate server suchas a service provider backend in communication with the user equipmentdevice. The general remote access service may include a web server forreceiving user requests, which are cross-referenced with action requeststhat are in a format compatible with the user equipment device and/orthe intermediate server. The general remote access service may maintaina lookup table that cross-references user requests with action requestsin a plurality of formats, each compatible with a different userequipment device. A particular format may be selected based oncharacteristics of the user equipment device, such as its vendor and/ormodel.

According to one aspect of the invention, a method for remotelyaccessing user equipment includes the steps of receiving user equipmentidentification information indicating at least one characteristic of theuser equipment and receiving from a user device a user requestindicating instructions for the user equipment. The user request iscross-referenced with an action request in a user equipment formatselected from a plurality of formats to be compatible with the userequipment. The action request in the user equipment format istransmitted for receipt by the user equipment for enabling execution ofthe indicated instructions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 show illustrative display screens that may be used toprovide media guidance application listings in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative user equipment device in accordance withone embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an illustrative cross-platform interactive mediasystem in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 5-7A and 7B are illustrative web-based remote access servicescreens in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate, respectively, program action request andresponse datasets;

FIGS. 9A, 10A and 10B are illustrative process flowcharts of stepsinvolved in providing remote access to interactive media guidanceapplications according to various embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 9B is an illustrative lookup table that can be used in conjunctionwith the process depicted in FIG. 9A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The amount of media available to users in any given media deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate media selections and easily identify media that they maydesire. An application which provides such guidance is referred toherein as an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, amedia guidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the media for which they provide guidance. One typical type of mediaguidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof media content including conventional television programming (providedvia traditional broadcast, cable, satellite, Internet, or other means),as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as invideo-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming media,downloadable media, Webcasts, etc.), and other types of media or videocontent. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among andlocate content related to the video content including, for example,video clips, articles, advertisements, chat sessions, games, etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on personal computers (PCs)and other devices on which they traditionally did not, such as hand-heldcomputers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones, orother mobile devices. On these devices users are able to navigate amongand locate the same media available through a television. Consequently,media guidance is necessary on these devices as well. The guidanceprovided may be for media content available only through a television,for media content available only through one or more of these devices,or for media content available both through a television and one or moreof these devices. The media guidance applications may be provided ason-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or as stand-aloneapplications or clients on hand-held computers, PDAs, mobile telephones,or other mobile devices. The various devices and platforms that mayimplement media guidance applications are described in more detailbelow.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia listings and media information to users. FIGS. 1, 2, and 5-7 showillustrative display screens that may be used to provide media guidance,and in particular media listings. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1,2, and 5-7 may be implemented on any suitable device or platform. Whilethe displays of FIGS. 1, 2, and 5-7 are illustrated as full screendisplays, they may also be fully or partially overlaid over mediacontent being displayed. A user may indicate a desire to access mediainformation by selecting a selectable option provided in a displayscreen (e.g., a menu option, a listings option, an icon, a hyperlink,etc.) or pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remotecontrol or other user input interface or device. In response to theuser's indication, the media guidance application may provide a displayscreen with media information organized in one of several ways, such asby time and channel in a grid, by time, by channel, by media type, bycategory (e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid program listings display 100 arranged bytime and channel that also enables access to different types of mediacontent in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with: (1)a column of channel/media type identifiers 104, where each channel/mediatype identifier (which is a cell in the column) identifies a differentchannel or media type available; and (2) a row of time identifiers 106,where each time identifier (which is a cell in the row) identifies atime block of programming. Grid 102 also includes cells of programlistings, such as program listing 108, where each listing provides thetitle of the program provided on the listing's associated channel andtime. With a user input device, a user can select program listings bymoving highlight region 110. Information relating to the program listingselected by highlight region 110 may be provided in program informationregion 112. Region 112 may include, for example, the program title, theprogram description, the time the program is provided (if applicable),the channel the program is on (if applicable), the program's rating, andother desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming provided accordingto a schedule, the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming which is not provided according to a schedule.Non-linear programming may include content from different media sourcesincluding on-demand media content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored media content(e.g., video content stored on a digital video recorder (DVR), digitalvideo disc (DVD), video cassette, compact disc (CD), etc.), or othertime-insensitive media content. On-demand content may include bothmovies and original media content provided by a particular mediaprovider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “Curb YourEnthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND, THE SOPRANOS, and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming media or downloadable media through anInternet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 102 may provide listings for non-linear programming includingon-demand listing 114, recorded media listing 116, and Internet contentlisting 118. A display combining listings for content from differenttypes of media sources is sometimes referred to as a “mixed-media”display. The various permutations of the types of listings that may bedisplayed that are different than display 100 may be based on userselection or guidance application definition (e.g., a display of onlyrecorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand and broadcast listings,etc.). As illustrated, listings 114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanningthe entire time block displayed in grid 102 to indicate that selectionof these listings may provide access to a display dedicated to on-demandlistings, recorded listings, or Internet listings, respectively. Inother embodiments, listings for these media types may be includeddirectly in grid 102. Additional listings may be displayed in responseto the user selecting one of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing anarrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a similarmanner as selecting navigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the presentinvention.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for media content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the media listingsin grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or servicesrelated or unrelated to the media content displayed in grid 102.Advertisement 124 may be selectable and provide further informationabout media content, provide information about a product or a service,enable purchasing of media content, a product, or a service, providemedia content relating to the advertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 maybe targeted based on a user's profile/preferences, monitored useractivity, the type of display provided, or on other suitable targetedadvertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over media content or aguidance application display or embedded within a display.Advertisements may also include text, images, rotating images, videoclips, or other types of media content. Advertisements may be stored inthe user equipment with the guidance application, in a databaseconnected to the user equipment, in a remote location (includingstreaming media servers), or on other storage means or a combination ofthese locations. Providing advertisements in a media guidanceapplication is discussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson etal., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/347,673, filed Jan. 17, 2003,Ward, I I I et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004, andSchein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the present invention.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types of mediacontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens of the present invention), or may be invoked by auser by selecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated orassignable button on a user input device. The selectable options withinoptions region 126 may concern features related to program listings ingrid 102 or may include options available from a main menu display.Features related to program listings may include searching for other airtimes or ways of receiving a program, recording a program, enablingseries recording of a program, setting program and/or channel as afavorite, purchasing a program, or other features. Options availablefrom a main menu display may include search options, VOD options,parental control options, access to various types of listing displays,subscribe to a premium service, edit a user's profile, access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of media content listings displayed(e.g., only HDTV programming, user-specified broadcast channels based onfavorite channel selections, re-ordering the display of channels,recommended media content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, and other desired customizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the media the useraccesses and/or other interactions the user may have with the guidanceapplication. Additionally, the media guidance application may obtain allor part of other user profiles that are related to a particular user(e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the user accesses, such aswww.tvguide.com, from other media guidance applications the useraccesses, from other interactive applications the user accesses, from ahandheld device of the user, etc.), and/or obtain information about theuser from other sources that the media guidance application may access.

As a result, a user can be provided with a unified guidance applicationexperience across the user's different devices. This type of userexperience is described in greater detail below in connection with FIG.4. Additional personalized media guidance application features aredescribed in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/437,304, filed Nov. 9, 1999, and Ellis et al.,U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/105,128, filed Feb. 21, 2002, whichare hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 formedia content information organized based on media type, genre, and/orother organization criteria. In display 200, television listings option204 is selected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 asbroadcast program listings. Unlike the listings from FIG. 1, thelistings in display 200 are not limited to simple text (e.g., theprogram title) and icons to describe media. Rather, in display 200 thelistings may provide graphical images including cover art, still imagesfrom the media content, video clip previews, live video from the mediacontent, or other types of media that indicate to a user the mediacontent being described by the listing. Each of the graphical listingsmay also be accompanied by text to provide further information about themedia content associated with the listing. For example, listing 208 mayinclude more than one portion, including media portion 214 and textportion 216. Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectableto view video in full-screen or to view program listings related to thevideo displayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for thechannel that the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the media provider or basedon user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating media listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/324,202, filed Dec. 29, 2005, which ishereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access media content and the media guidance application (andits display screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4.User equipment device 300 may receive media content and data viainput/output (hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may providemedia content (e.g., broadcast programming, on-demand programming,Internet content, and other video or audio) and data to controlcircuitry 304, which includes processing circuitry 306 and storage 308.Control circuitry 304 may be used to send and receive commands,requests, and other suitable data using I/O path 302. I/O path 302 mayconnect control circuitry 304 (and specifically processing circuitry306) to one or more communications paths (described below). I/Ofunctions may be provided by one or more of these communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitry306 such as processing circuitry based on one or more microprocessors,microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices,etc. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executes instructionsfor a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage 308).In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. Communicationscircuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digitalnetwork (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephonemodem, or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment. Suchcommunications may involve the Internet or any other suitablecommunications networks or paths (which is described in more detail inconnection with FIG. 4). Communication circuitry may include anapplication program interface for receiving communications from otherequipment. These communications may be action requests that indicateinstructions for user equipment device 300, for example, a filecompatible with the application program interface indicatinginstructions to schedule a recording or settings for a media guidanceapplication such as program or channel favorites (described below withrespect to FIG. 4). In addition, communications circuitry may includecircuitry that enables peer-to-peer communication of user equipmentdevices, or communication of user equipment devices in locations remotefrom each other (described in more detail below).

Memory (e.g., random-access memory, read-only memory, or any othersuitable memory), hard drives, optical drives, or any other suitablefixed or removable storage devices (e.g., DVD recorder, CD recorder,video cassette recorder, or other suitable recording device) may beprovided as storage 308 that is part of control circuitry 304. Storage308 may include one or more of the above types of storage devices. Forexample, user equipment device 300 may include a hard drive for a DVR(sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR) and a DVD recorderas a secondary storage device. Storage 308 may be used to store varioustypes of media described herein and guidance application data, includingprogram information, guidance application settings, user preferences orprofile information, or other data used in operating the guidanceapplication. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch aboot-up routine and other instructions).

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting media into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment to receive and to display,to play, or to record media content. The tuning and encoding circuitrymay also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitry describedherein, including for example, the tuning, video generating, encoding,decoding, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may be implemented usingsoftware running on one or more general purpose or specializedprocessors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneoustuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions, picture-in-picture(PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording, etc.). If storage 308 isprovided as a separate device from user equipment 300, the tuning andencoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated withstorage 308.

A user may control the control circuitry 304 using user input interface310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable user interface, suchas a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen,touch pad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognition interface, or otheruser input interfaces. Display 312 may be provided as a stand-alonedevice or integrated with other elements of user equipment device 300.Display 312 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquidcrystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, or any other suitableequipment for displaying visual images. In some embodiments, display 312may be HDTV-capable. Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated withother elements of user equipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units.The audio component of videos and other media content displayed ondisplay 312 may be played through speakers 314. In some embodiments, theaudio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes andoutputs the audio via speakers 314.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, remote access user device 440,or any other type of user equipment suitable for accessing media (e.g.,a non-portable gaming machine). For simplicity, these devices may bereferred to herein collectively as user equipment or user equipmentdevices. User equipment devices, on which a media guidance applicationis implemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below. The remote accessuser device 440 may also be any of the wireless user devices 406 (e.g.,a PDA, mobile telephone, portable video player, etc).

System 400 is a simplified illustrative cross-platform interactive mediasystem for providing remote access to interactive media guidanceapplications in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.This exemplary system comprises remote access user device 440, remoteaccess server 460, media service provider's remote access server 490,user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406, media content source 416, andmedia guidance data content source 418 as well as various communicationnetworks and data links. In this exemplary figure, interactive mediasystem 400 may host the media guidance application that a user of remoteaccess user device 440 may wish to manage remotely through use of remoteaccess server 460 and remote access user device 440.

In interactive media system 400, user television equipment 402 mayinclude a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handlingsatellite television, a television set, a digital storage device, a DVDrecorder, a video-cassette recorder (VCR), a local media server, orother user television equipment. One or more of these devices may beintegrated to be a single device, if desired. User computer equipment404 may include a PC, a laptop, a tablet, a WebTV box, a personalcomputer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, orother user computer equipment. WEBTV is a trademark owned by MicrosoftCorp. Wireless user communications device 406 may include PDAs, a mobiletelephone, a portable video player, a portable music player, a portablegaming machine, or other wireless devices.

It should be noted that with the advent of television tuner cards forPC's, WebTV, and the integration of video into other user equipmentdevices, the lines have become blurred when trying to classify a deviceas one of the above devices. In fact, each of user television equipment402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communicationsdevice 406 may utilize at least some of the system features describedabove in connection with FIG. 3 and, as a result, include flexibilitywith respect to the type of media content available on the device. Forexample, user television equipment 402 may be Internet-enabled allowingfor access to Internet content, while user computer equipment 404 mayinclude a tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may also have the same layout on the variousdifferent types of user equipment or may be tailored to the displaycapabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computerequipment, the guidance application may be provided as a web siteaccessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidance applicationmay be scaled down for wireless user communications devices.

In interactive media system 400, there is typically more than one ofeach type of user equipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG.4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user mayutilize more than one type of user equipment device (e.g., a user mayhave a television set and a computer) and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device (e.g., a user may have a PDA and a mobiletelephone and/or multiple television sets).

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.tvguide.com on theirpersonal computer at their office using, say, remote access user device440, the same channel would appear as a favorite on the user's in-homedevices (e.g., user television equipment and user computer equipment) aswell as the user's mobile devices, if desired. Therefore, changes madeon one user equipment device can change the guidance experience onanother user equipment device, regardless of whether they are the sameor a different type of user equipment device. In addition, the changesmade may be based on settings input by a user, as well as user activitymonitored by the guidance application.

In interactive media system 400, the user equipment devices may becoupled to communications network 414. Namely, user television equipment402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communicationsdevice 406 are coupled to communications network 414 via communicationspaths 408, 410, and 412, respectively. Communications network 414 may beone or more networks including the Internet, a mobile phone network,mobile device (e.g., Blackberry) network, cable network, public switchedtelephone network, or other types of communications network orcombinations of communications networks. BLACKBERRY is a trademark ownedby Research In Motion Limited Corp. Paths 408, 410, and 412 mayseparately or together include one or more communications paths, suchas, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path thatsupports Internet communications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections(e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitablewired or wireless communications path or combination of such paths. Path412 is drawn with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplaryembodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is a wireless path and paths 408 and 410are drawn as solid lines to indicate they are wired paths (althoughthese paths may be wireless paths, if desired). Communications with theuser equipment devices may be provided by one or more of thesecommunications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is atrademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipment devices mayalso communicate with each other directly through an indirect path viacommunications network 414.

Interactive media system 400 includes media content source 416 and mediaguidance data source 418 coupled to communications network 414 viacommunication paths 420 and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 mayinclude any of the communication paths described above in connectionwith paths 408, 410, and 412. Communications with the media contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be exchanged over oneor more communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, there may be morethan one of each of media content source 416 and media guidance datasource 418, but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. (The different types of each of thesesources are discussed below.) If desired, media content source 416 andmedia guidance data source 418 may be integrated as one source device.Although communications between sources 416 and 418 with user equipmentdevices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as through communications network414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 may communicate directlywith user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 via communication paths(not shown) such as those described above in connection with paths 408,410, and 412.

Media content source 416 may include one or more types of mediadistribution equipment including a television distribution facility,cable system headend, satellite distribution facility, programmingsources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.),intermediate distribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers,on-demand media servers, and other media content providers. NBC is atrademark owned by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is atrademark owned by the ABC, INC., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Media content source 416 may be the originator ofmedia content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.)or may not be the originator of media content (e.g., an on-demand mediacontent provider, an Internet provider of video content of broadcastprograms for downloading, etc.). Media content source 416 may includecable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internetproviders, or other providers of media content. Media content source 416may also include a remote media server used to store different types ofmedia content (including video content selected by a user), in alocation remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of media content, and providing remotelystored media content to user equipment are discussed in greater detailin connection with Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/332,244, filed Jun. 11, 1999, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asmedia listings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times,broadcast channels, media titles, media descriptions, ratingsinformation (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.),genre or category information, actor information, logo data forbroadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standarddefinition, high definition, etc.), advertisement information (e.g.,text, images, media clips, etc.), on-demand information, and any othertype of guidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among andlocate desired media selections.

Media guidance application data may be provided to the user equipmentdevices using any suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guidanceapplication may be a stand-alone interactive television program guidethat receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuousfeed, trickle feed, or data in the vertical blanking interval of achannel). Program schedule data and other guidance data may be providedto the user equipment on a television channel sideband, in the verticalblanking interval of a television channel, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other guidancedata may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog or digitaltelevision channels. Program schedule data and other guidance data maybe provided to the user equipment with any suitable frequency (e.g.,continuously, daily, a user-specified period of time, a system-specifiedperiod of time, in response to a request from user equipment, etc.). Insome approaches, guidance data from media guidance data source 418 maybe provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a guidance application client residing on the user's equipmentmay initiate sessions with source 418 to obtain guidance data whenneeded. Media guidance data source 418 may provide user equipmentdevices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidance application itself orsoftware updates for the media guidance application.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. In otherembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only the client resides on the user equipment device.For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially asa client application on control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3) of user equipmentdevice 300 (FIG. 3) and partially on a remote server as a serverapplication (e.g., media guidance data source 418). The guidanceapplication displays may be generated by the media guidance data source418 and transmitted to the user equipment devices. The media guidancedata source 418 may also transmit data for storage on the userequipment, which then generates the guidance application displays basedon instructions processed by control circuitry.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of media content and guidance data may communicate with eachother for the purpose of accessing media and providing media guidancewithin a home network or over a media service provider network. Mediaguidance system 400 may be applied in any one or a subset of theseapproaches, or in a system employing other approaches for deliveringmedia and providing media guidance.

In one approach, user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 maycommunicate with each other within a home network. User equipmentdevices can communicate with each other directly via short-rangepoint-to-point communication schemes describe above, via indirect pathsthrough a hub or other similar device provided on a home network, or viacommunications network 414. Each of the multiple individuals in a singlehome may operate different user equipment devices on the home network.As a result, it may be desirable for various media guidance informationor settings to be communicated between the different user equipmentdevices. For example, it may be desirable for users to maintainconsistent media guidance application settings on different userequipment devices within a home network, as described in greater detailin Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul.11, 2005. Different types of user equipment devices in a home networkmay also communicate with each other to transmit media content. Forexample, a user may transmit media content from user computer equipmentto a portable video player or portable music player.

In another approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith media content source 416 to access media content. Specifically,within a home, users of user television equipment 404 and user computerequipment 406 may access the media guidance application to navigateamong and locate desirable media content. Users may also access themedia guidance application outside of the home using wireless usercommunications devices 406 to navigate among and locate desirable mediacontent.

In another approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access media content and obtain media guidance. For example,some users may have home networks that are accessed by in-home andmobile devices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The user may havemultiple in-home equipment devices (e.g., in different rooms of a homeor at multiple homes) that may not necessarily be the same type. Forexample, a vendor may offer different devices and different vendors mayoffer different devices, where devices may differ by having differentcommunication interfaces (e.g., different application programinterfaces) for receiving data such as media content, in-home equipmentsettings, and action requests. Various systems and methods for userequipment devices communicating, where the user equipment devices are inlocations remote from each other, is discussed in, for example, Ellis etal., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/927,814, filed Aug. 26, 2004,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

In one embodiment of the present invention, users may remotely accessand manage settings for interactive guidance applications implemented onuser equipment devices 402, 404, and/or 406 using any suitable remoteaccess user devices. Remote access user device 440 of system 400 shows asimplified illustrative embodiment of a remote access user device. Morespecific embodiments of remote access user device 440 are describedbelow. In some embodiments, remote access user device 440 is a standarduser device and may include a PC, a laptop, a tablet, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portablemusic player, a portable gaming machine, a handheld computer, a portabletelevision system, an automobile television system, other computerequipment, other wireless device, or other mobile user device havinglocation positioning functionality. Remote access user device 440 may bea user device outside the user's home network (e.g., office computer) orany of user equipment device 406 within the user's home network.

Remote access user device 440 may include one or more of processingcircuitry 444, storage 450, communications device 452, and remote accessclient 442 (which is actually an application run by processing circuitry444 and stored on storage 450, but has been drawn as a separate elementfor clarity). Processing circuitry 444 may include all the features andcomponents of processing circuitry 306 in FIG. 3. Storage 450, which iscoupled to processing circuitry 444, may include memory (e.g.,random-access memory, read-only memory, flash memory, or any othersuitable memory), hard drives, optical drives, or any other suitablefixed or removable storage devices (e.g., floppy disk, CD, DVD,cassette, or any suitable recording or storage device).

Remote access user device 440 may also include location positioningcircuitry 448 coupled to processing circuitry 444. Location positioningcircuitry 448 may provide location positioning functionality through,for example, a global positioning system (GPS), or any other suitablemeans. Location positioning circuitry 448 may supply processingcircuitry 444 with the current location of the user, which may determinewhich of a plurality of remote access servers 460 remote access userdevice 440 may communicate with. The current location of the user mayalso determine the source of program information provided by remoteaccess server 460 to remote access user device 440.

Remote access user device 440 may also include one or morecommunications device 452. Communications device 452 may be any devicesuitable for supporting communications between remote access user device440, remote access server 460 and communications network 480, such as acommunication port (e.g., a serial port, parallel port, universal serialbus (USB) port, etc.), modem (e.g., any suitable analog or digitalstandard modem or cellular modem), network interface card (e.g., anEthernet card, token ring card, etc.), wireless transceiver (e.g., aninfrared, radio, or other suitable analog or digital transceiver), orother suitable communications device.

Communication between remote access user device 440 and remote accessserver 460 may take place over communications path 482 and/or viacommunications network 480 using communications device 452.Communications path 482 may include any of the communication pathsdescribed above in connection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Communications path 482 may include any suitable transmission medium.For example, communications path 482 may include a serial or parallelcable, a dial-up telephone line, a computer network or Internet link(e.g., 10Base2, 10Base 5, 10BaseT, 100BaseT, 10BaseF, T1, T3, etc.), anin-home network link, an infrared link, a radio frequency link, asatellite link, any other suitable transmission link or suitablecombination of such links. Any suitable transmission or access schememay be used such as standard serial or parallel communications,Ethernet, Token Ring, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI),Circuit-Switched Cellular (CSC), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD),RAM mobile data, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), timedivision multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA),any other suitable transmission or access scheme, or any suitablecombination thereof. Preferably remote access link 482 is bidirectional.If desired, however, certain limited program guide functions may beaccessed using a unidirectional link. An advantage of using aunidirectional scheme for link 482 is that such schemes are generallyless complicated and less expensive than bidirectional links.

Remote access user device 440 and remote access server 460 maycommunicate over communication path 482 using any suitable network andtransport layer protocols, if desired. Remote access user device 440 andremote access server 460 may communicate, for example, using a protocolstack which includes Sequenced Packet Exchange/Internetwork PacketExchange (SPX/IPX) layers, Transmission Control Protocol/InternetProtocol (TCP/IP) layers, Appletalk Transaction Protocol/DatagramDelivery Protocol (ATP/DDP) layers, or any other suitable network andtransport layer protocols or combination of protocols.

Remote access user device 440 may include remote access client 442 forcommunicating requests to and receiving responses from remote accessserver 460. It should be noted that remote access client 442 is actuallyan application run by processing circuitry 444 and stored on storage450, but has been drawn as a separate element for clarity. Remote accessclient 442 may be accessed by users using one or more user inputinterfaces (not shown). Any suitable user input interface may be used toaccess remote access client 442, such as those described in connectionwith user input interface 310 of FIG. 3. Remote access client 442 maycommunicate with application program interface (API) 462 of remoteserver 460 using any suitable communications scheme. In addition tousing any of the already mentioned protocols, any number of otheraccess, data-link, network, routing or other protocols may be involvedin supporting communications between remote program guide access device440 and remote access server 460 over remote access link 482 andcommunications network 480 (e.g., X.25, Frame Relay, AsynchronousTransfer Mode (ATM), Serial Line Interface (SLIP), point-to-pointprotocols (PPP), or any other suitable access, data-link, network,routing or other protocol).

It should be noted that communications between remote access user device440 and remote access server 460 may occur over one or morecommunications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, there may be more than one ofremote access user device 440, but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. Although communication betweenremote access user device 440 and remote access server 460 is shown asdirect communications path 482, in some embodiments, remote access userdevice 440 may communicate with remote access server 460 throughintermediate devices (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths between media content source 416 and mediaguidance data source 418, and user equipment 402, 404, and 406. Remoteaccess server 460 may also run on an intermediate server, such as a webserver.

Remote access server 460 of media guidance system 400 is a simplifiedillustrative embodiment of a remote access server that may be used inaccordance with the principles of this invention. Remote access server460 may include one or more processing circuitry 464, storage 470,communications device 472, and application program interface (API) 462(which is actually an application run by processing circuitry 464 andstored on storage 470, but has been drawn as a separate element forclarity). Remote access server 460 may be any suitable combination ofhardware and software capable of client-server based interactions withremote access user device 440. Remote access server 460 may, forexample, receive user requests from remote access user device 440 andgenerate action requests to be transmitted for processing. In someembodiments, remote access server 460 may run a suitable databaseengine, such as a SQL server or Oracle DB, and provide program guidedata in response to queries generated by remote access user device 440.Processing circuitry 464 may include any suitable processor, such as amicroprocessor or group of microprocessors, and other processingcircuitry such as caching circuitry, direct memory access (DMA)circuitry, and input/output (I/O) circuitry. Storage 470 may include anysuitable storage device including memory or other storage devices, suchas random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory, anda hard disk drive, that is suitable for storing the program guide datato be used by the remote access server. Program guide data may be storedon storage device 470 in any suitable format (e.g., a Structured QueryLanguage (SQL) database). Storage 470 may also store user profileinformation for correlating users with their respective user equipmentdevices. Storage 470 may included several levels of primary, secondary,and auxiliary storage. Although storage 470 is shown in directconnection with processing circuitry 464, in some embodiments, at leasta portion or all of storage 470 may be located on a separate data serverremote from remote access server 460. Communications device 472 may beany suitable communications device such as those described in connectionwith communications device 452. Media guidance system 400 may includemultiple remote access servers 460. However, only one is shown to avoidovercomplicating the drawing.

Media guidance access server 490 of media guidance system 400 is asimplified illustrative embodiment of an access server for a mediaservice provider of media guidance system 400 that may be used inaccordance with the principles of this invention. Media guidance accessserver 490 may include one or more processing circuitry 494, storage492, communications device (not shown), and application programinterface (API) 496 (which is actually an application run by processingcircuitry 494 and stored on storage 492, but has been drawn as aseparate element for clarity). Media guidance access server 490 may beany suitable combination of hardware and software capable ofinteractions with media guidance data source 418, user equipment devices402, 404, and 406, and remote access server 460. Media guidance accessserver 490 may, for example, receive user requests from remote accessserver 460 for subsequent transmission to user equipment devices 402,404, and/or 406 for processing. In some embodiments, media guidanceaccess server 490 may run a suitable database engine, such as a SQLserver or Oracle DB, and provide program guide data in response toqueries generated by remote access server 460. Processing circuitry 494may include any suitable processor, such as a microprocessor or group ofmicroprocessors, and other processing circuitry such as cachingcircuitry, direct memory access (DMA) circuitry, and input/output (I/O)circuitry.

Storage 492 may include any suitable storage device including memory orother storage devices, such as random access memory (RAM), read onlymemory (ROM), flash memory, and a hard disk drive, that is suitable forstoring data. In a typical usage scenario, media guidance access server490 obtains media guidance data from media guidance data source 418. Insome embodiments, media guidance access server 490 may store or cachethe media guidance data obtained from media guidance data source 418 onstorage device 492 in any suitable format (e.g., a Structured QueryLanguage (SQL) database). Storage 492 may also store action requestsreceived from remote access server 460. Storage 492 may included severallevels of primary, secondary, and auxiliary storage. Although storage492 is shown in direct connection with processing circuitry 494, in someembodiments, at least a portion or all of storage 492 may be located ona separate data server remote from media guidance access server 490.Media guidance access server 490 may also include communications device(not shown) that may be any suitable communications device such as thosedescribed in connection with communications device 452. Media guidancesystem 400 may include multiple media guidance access servers 490.However, only one is shown to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Cross-platform media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate anumber of approaches, or network configurations, by which user equipmentdevices, sources of media content and guidance data, and remote accessservice providers may communicate with each other for the purpose ofproviding remote access to media guidance applications. The presentinvention may be applied in any one or a subset of these approaches, orin a system employing other approaches for delivering media andproviding media guidance.

In one illustrative usage scenario, a user at remote access user device440 authenticates with remote access client 442. Using the remote accessclient 442, the user may select a program to be recorded on the user'sin-home user equipment. For example, in FIG. 5 (which will be describedin more detail below), a user may select “The Crocodile Hunter,” onchannel 100, starting at 2:00 PM to be recorded on the user equipment.After the user confirms the selection on FIG. 7A (which will bedescribed in more detail below), the remote access user device 440 orthe remote access server 460, may generate a request to be transmitted,either directly or through intermediate devices, for processing by theinteractive media guidance application on user equipment 402, 404, or406 (all of FIG. 4).

FIG. 5 shows illustrative grid program listings display 500 that may beincluded in an exemplary implementation of remote access client 442described in connection with FIG. 4 in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. In some embodiments, a user enrollment process includingone or more user enrollment screens (not shown) may be completed beforeaccessing display 500 or any remote access functionality. In someembodiments, the interactive user enrollment process may also present aseries of questions to the user relating to the user's viewing habits,viewing times, favorite programming, favorite actors, favorite series,or any other suitable information. The information collected via theuser enrollment process may be stored as a user profile on the remoteaccess server, remote access user device, user equipment devices, or ata remote location (e.g., any storage facility connected to communicationnetwork 480 of FIG. 4) and may be used to automatically recommend oradvertise specific programs. In some embodiments, the remote accessservice may also actively monitor a user's viewing behavior and actionsthrough remote access client 442 of FIG. 4. Information from thismonitoring may be stored as part of the user's profile and may also beused to recommend or suggest programs.

Each of the display screens in FIGS. 5-7 may include a number of banneradvertisements 524 and panel advertisements (not shown). The size,shape, and location of the aforementioned advertisements may be alteredwithout departing from the spirit of the invention, and more or lessadvertisements than those shown in FIGS. 5-7 may be displayed, ifdesired.

Display 500 may include program information arranged by time and channelfor providing remote access to interactive guidance applicationfunctions on user equipment. Display 500 may include grid 502 with: (1)a column of channel/media type identifiers 504, where each channel/mediatype identifier (which is a cell in the column) identifies a differentchannel or media type available; and (2) a row of time identifiers 506,where each time identifier (which is a cell in the row) identifies atime block of programming. Grid 502 also includes cells of programlistings, such as program listing 508, where each listing provides thetitle of the program provided on the listing's associated channel andtime. Display 500 also includes drop-down box 530 which may be used toselect the media service provider for the geographical location of theuser equipment. In some embodiments, the media server provider selectedmay be stored in the user profile information and displayed duringremote access sessions. Display 500 also includes date/time menu 532that a user of remote access client 442 (FIG. 4) may change. The mediaservice provider, and the date and time selected by the user determinethe program information displayed in grid 502. With a user input device,a user may select program listings by moving highlight region 510 ofgrid 502. A user may access display 500 via a remote service address534, which may be, for example, a uniform resource identifier or locatorthat when entered into address box 536 may enable transmittal of datafrom a server, such as remote access server 460, to remote access client442 for generating display 500.

FIG. 6 shows illustrative screen 600 for providing information relatingto the program listing selected by highlight region 510 in FIG. 5.Screen 600 may include, for example, the program title 628, the programdescription 624, the starting time for the program 610, the channel onwhich the program is presented 630, the program's rating (not shown),and other desired program information, such as, for example access link622. In some embodiments, screen 600 may also provide menu options forproviding remote access to specific interactive guidance applicationfunctions.

For example, the user may select menu option 602 to remotely set uprecording for the program on the in-home user equipment. FIG. 7A showsillustrative recording setup screen 700 that may be used by the user toremotely set up recording for the program according to one embodiment ofthe invention. Recording setup screen 700 may include, for example, theprogram title 702, the starting time 708, the channel 704, the program'sduration 718, the program's rating (not shown), and other desiredprogram information. In addition to displaying program information,screen 700 may also be used to define additional options for therecording. For example, the user may instruct the user equipment onwhich the recording is to be scheduled when to begin recording. Usingdrop-down box 712, the user may remotely instruct the interactive mediaguidance application to, for example, begin recording the program atit's scheduled start time or, alternatively, at some otheruser-determined time. Similarly, using drop-down box 714, the user mayremotely instruct the user equipment to, for example, stop recording theprogram at it's scheduled stop time or, alternatively, at some otheruser-determined time. Using drop-down box 716, the user may alsodetermine how long the user equipment may save the recorded program. Theuser may, for example, decide to save the recording until space isneeded for new recordings or set a user-determined date when therecording may be removed or deleted by the user equipment. Althoughoptions 712 through 716 are depicted as drop-down boxes, any suitableinput module may be used without departing from the spirit of theinvention. For example, radio buttons may be used in one or more ofoptions 712 through 716. After selecting and/or reviewing informationfor remotely setting up the recording, the use may confirm the recordingor abort altogether. For example, the user may select menu item 710 toconfirm the recording setup. Alternatively, the user may select menuitem 720 to abort the recording setup. In some embodiments, the user maychoose to save the recording setup on, for example, storage 470 of theremote access server for later confirmation or abandonment.

Returning to illustrative screen 600 in FIG. 6, the user mayadditionally or alternatively select menu option 604 to remotely set upa reminder for the program on the in-home user equipment. FIG. 7B showsillustrative reminder setup screen 750 that may be used by the user toremotely set up reminders for the program according to one embodiment ofthe invention. Reminder setup screen 750 may include, for example, theprogram title 752, the starting time 758, the channel 754, the program'sduration 768, the program's rating (not shown), and other desiredprogram information. In addition to displaying program information,screen 750 may also be used to define additional options for setting upthe reminder. For example, the user may instruct the user equipment onwhich the reminder is to be scheduled when to display the reminder.Using menu item 762, the user may remotely instruct the user equipmentto, for example, present the reminder for the program at its scheduledstart time or, alternatively, at some other user-determined time.Similarly, using menu item 764, the user may remotely instruct the userequipment to, for example, stop reminding the program at its scheduledstop time or, alternatively, at some other user-determined time. Usingmenu item 766, the user may also determine how long the user equipmentmay keep the reminder active. The user may, for example, decide to keepthe reminder active until the series completes its seasonal run, keepthe reminder active for the specified episode only, or set auser-determined date when the reminder may be deactivated or deleted bythe user equipment. After selecting and/or reviewing information forremotely setting up the reminder, the use may confirm the reminder orabort altogether. For example, the user may select menu item 760 toconfirm the reminder setup. Alternatively, the user may select menu item770 to abort the reminder setup. In some embodiments, the user maychoose to save the reminder setup on, for example, storage 470 of theremote access server for later confirmation or abandonment.

After a user confirms a program action request, one or more actionrequest definitions may be generated for the user's selection. Forexample, an action request definition may define the specific actionthat the user wishes to schedule (e.g., set up recording or set upreminder), the selected channel, selected start time, user clientidentification information, and any additional information that may besupported by the application program interface of the remote accessserver. The action request definition may be generated by remote accessuser device 440, remote access server 460 (both of FIG. 4), or by ahybrid approach in which the remote access user device generates arequest based on user inputs (e.g., time and channel) and then sends therequest to a remote access service which adds additional metadata (e.g.,program identification information) to the request.

As shown in FIG. 8A, XML tags may be used to define one or more actionrequest definitions. Other suitable data structures may be used in otherembodiments. XML file 800 includes file name 802, which may be used touniquely identify the request. In some embodiments, name 802 includes aunique numeric descriptor. Tag data 804 may include XML tags that defineprogram channel, action requested (e.g., set reminder or set recording),and the start time, for the program for which the action is requested.For example, action request tags 816 and 818 indicate a record request,which is represented by action identifier 820, and channel tags 822 and824 indicate a specific channel, which is represented by sourceidentifier 826. Program set definitions may additionally oralternatively include search criteria. These search criteria may definea search string to be executed on a media guidance application databaseor other content database which may receive the action requestdefinition.

It should be noted that the application program interface (API) for mostmedia guidance access servers 490 (FIG. 4) for media service providers(which may receive and store the action request) may not have thecapability to receive other program-specific information such as aprogram title, a unique program identification, a program source name(e.g., “HBO”), or a unique identifier for the program source. As aresult, the examples described herein may not include suchprogram-specific information. However, where the API for the cableprovider's server is capable of receiving additional programinformation, the action request definition generated for the userrequest may include this additional information without departing fromthe spirit of the invention. Generally, application program interfacesof different media guidance access servers or provided by differentmedia service providers may differ such that a file representing anaction request, such as XML file 800, that is compatible with oneapplication program interface may not necessarily be compatible withother application program interfaces. For example, different applicationprogram interfaces may require action requests to be formatted accordingto different data structures or to use different tags or identifiers.

The action request definition may be transmitted to be processed by theuser equipment. In some embodiments, the action request may be receivedfrom the remote access server by the user equipment (e.g., userequipment devices 402, 404, and/or 406 in FIG. 4). The user equipmentmay process the request using program information from, for example,media guidance data source 418 (FIG. 4). In other embodiments, theaction request may be received from the remote access server by a cableprovider's remote service server which then subsequently transmits therequest to the interactive media guidance application. In someembodiments, the cable provider may store and monitor informationrelating to the request for further analysis.

In some embodiments, the user equipment or a service provider for theuser equipment may send an acknowledgement to the remote access serverupon receiving the action request. The acknowledgement may includeinformation previously included in the action request definition andadditional program information relating to the actual program againstwhich the requested action is to be performed, such as the programtitle.

FIG. 8B shows illustrative action request acknowledgement that may betransmitted by the user equipment or a service provider for the userequipment to the remote access server. As shown in FIG. 8B, XML file 810may include file name 812, which may be used to uniquely identify theaction request confirmation. Tag data 814 may include XML tags thatdefine the program title, channel, and start time for the program forwhich the requested action may have been scheduled. Upon receiving XMLfile 810, the remote access server may compare additional informationcontained in the file with the corresponding information in the remoteaccess program information databases to detect if the wrong program mayhave been recorded. For example, in screen 700 (FIG. 7A) the userintended to record an episode of “The Crocodile Hunter.” However, XMLfile 810 includes program title information indicating that the program“Sex and the City” was scheduled to be recorded. The remote accessserver may use the disparity in title information to detect that thewrong program may have been scheduled to be recorded and take steps toschedule a recording for the correct program.

FIG. 9A shows illustrative process 900 for remotely scheduling an actionrequest with interactive media guidance applications on user equipmentaccording to one embodiment of the invention. A user wishing to remotelyaccess interactive media guidance application on user equipment maybegin a remote access request by, for example, providing identificationinformation to remote access client 442 for authenticating with theremote access server 460. In some embodiments, access to remote accessserver 460 may be restricted to subscribers who may or may not pay asubscription fee. Using a remote access client 442 (e.g., displays inFIGS. 5-7), the user may specify parameters for the action request.

At step 904, remote access server 460 receives user equipmentidentification information that may have been transmitted from remoteaccess user device 440 using any suitable communication protocol. Theuser equipment identification information indicates at least onecharacteristic of the user equipment (e.g., user equipment 402, 404, or406), such as the vendor and/or model of the user equipment. Forexample, the user equipment identification information may indicate thatthe user equipment includes a 180-hr TiVo Series2 digital video recordervended by TiVo, Inc. TiVo and Series2 are registered trademarks of TiVo,Inc. Exemplary user equipment identification information may indicate auser account associated with the user equipment, where the user accountmay be provided by a provider of an interactive media guidanceapplication implemented on the user equipment. Based on such userequipment identification information, processing circuitry 464 mayretrieve information stored in storage 470 about the user equipment. Forexample, user equipment identification information may include ausername of the user account, with which processing circuitry 464 mayretrieve from storage 470 the vendor and model of the user equipment.

At step 906, a user equipment format is selected from a plurality offormats based at least in part on the user equipment identificationinformation received at step 904. The user equipment format may be usedto represent action requests in a manner compatible with an applicationprogram interface associated with the user equipment, such as mediaguidance access server application program interface 496 of FIG. 4 or anapplication program interface that is part of an interactive mediaguidance application implemented on the user equipment. For example, XMLfile 800 in FIG. 8A may represent an action request in a user equipmentformat compatible with media guidance access server application programinterface 496. Generally, the user equipment format may use any suitabledata structure and/or include other information, as compared toexemplary XML file 800, that is compatible with the application programinterface associated with the user equipment. The application programinterface may be provided by a media service provider and/orincorporated into the user equipment.

At step 908, a user request is received from remote access user device440. The user request may indicate instructions for the user equipment,such as scheduling a recording, setting a reminder, or any otherfunction offered by an interactive media guidance application. The userrequest may be in a format that corresponds to (e.g., be proprietary to)a remote access service provider providing a remote access server, suchas remote access server 460, capable of facilitating remote access to aplurality of user equipment devices which do not necessarily have thesame application program interface. In some embodiments, the format iscompatible with a communication protocol (e.g., hypertext transferprotocol) of a computer network (e.g., the Internet) in communicationwith a user device (e.g., remote access user device 440) and userequipment. In this case, the user equipment identification informationreceived at step 904 may indicate an addressable internet protocoladdress for the user equipment and the user device may access a websiteto initiate or enable transmission of the user request to theaddressable internet protocol address.

The user request may be received by remote access server 460. Inparticular, the user request may be communicated from remote accessclient 442 to remote access server application program interface 462over communication path 482 using any suitable communication protocol.The format in which the user request is transmitted is compatible withremote access server application program interface 462. The user requestmay be generated for the program selected by the user.

In some embodiments, the user request may be completely generated byremote access user device 440 and passed on to remote access server 460for transmission. In other embodiments, remote access user device 440and remote access server 460 may each generate a portion of the userrequest. For example, remote access user device 440 may generate a userrequest including user-determined parameters and pass it off to remoteaccess server 460 which may supplement the user request with additionalrouting or identifying information for subsequent transmission.

The program scheduling information used to generate the user request maybe obtained from program listings information stored on storage 470 ofthe remote server or from a data cache included in storage 450 of remoteaccess user device 440. The scheduling information may be obtained froma data provider for the remote access service (hereinafter referred toas “remote access data”) and may not correspond to the program listingsinformation used by the interactive media guidance applicationimplemented on user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406. The programinformation used by the user equipment devices will hereinafter bereferred to as “local guide data.” In some embodiments, local guidedata, while used by the interactive media guidance application, may beretrieved by the media guidance access server or thecable/satellite/media service provider and passed through to remoteaccess server 460 for inclusion in the user request.

At step 910, the user request received at step 908 is cross-referencedwith an action request in a user equipment format, which may be the userequipment format selected at step 906. In particular, the user andaction requests may indicate the same instructions for the userequipment while having different formats that are compatible withdifferent application program interfaces. In some embodiments, a lookuptable is maintained which cross-references user requests with actionrequests in a plurality of formats including the user equipment formatdescribed above with respect to step 906. Each user equipment format maybe identified by characteristics of the corresponding user equipmentsuch as those indicated by the user equipment identification informationreceived at step 904. The user request may then be cross-referenced withthe corresponding action request via the lookup table. Processingcircuitry 464 of remote access server 460 may perform thecross-referencing and may retrieve information from storage 470, whichmay store the lookup table in any suitable format such as, in StructuredQuery Language (SQL) format.

FIG. 9B shows illustrative lookup table 950 for cross-referencing userrequests with action requests in a plurality of formats. Lookup table950 may include such formats for various media service providers and/oruser equipment devices. Lookup table 950 may include (1) a column 952 ofuser requests for the remote access server, where each user request(which is a cell in the column) identifies a different action that maybe requested via the remote access service (e.g., “record” or “setreminder”); and (2) a row of user equipment devices 954, where each userequipment device (which is a cell in row) is identified by vendor andmodel and implements an interactive media guidance application capableof performing at least one of the actions identified in column 952.Lookup table 950 also includes cells of action identifiers. For example,cell 958 corresponds the action identifier “RM4,” which is compatiblewith the user equipment identifiable as “Comcast CVC8 DVR,” to the userrequest “set reminder,” which is specified by the cell in column 952 ofthe same row. A lookup table may include other user requests, such assetting personal preferences or changing user account or profileinformation, and may identify user equipment formats via characteristicsother than vendor and model. More than one lookup table may bemaintained. For example, each lookup table may correspond to a differentset of user requests, whose format or corresponding actions may varydepending on the remote access device. Furthermore, any suitable tablelayout may be used. For example, instead of one table for all vendors ofuser equipment devices, the remote access service may have a separatetable for each vendor.

At step 912, remote access server 460 transmits the action request tothe interactive media guidance application on the user equipment (e.g.,402, 404, and/or 406) to enable execution of the instructions indicatedby the user request received at step 908. The user equipment may belocated at an addressable internet protocol address, in which case theremote access server 460 may directly transmit the action request to theuser equipment. The action request may include general criteria forlocating the actual program (e.g., start time and channel). In someembodiments, the remote access server may transmit the action request toa media guidance access server 490 of a media service provider of theinteractive media guidance application on the user equipment forsubsequent transmission to the user equipment. The action request mayinclude program-specific identification for the program (e.g., programtitle and/or episode title) in cases where the application programinterface of media guidance access server 490 is capable of receivingsuch information.

At step 914, a notification acknowledging receipt of the action requestis transmitted to the remote access server from the interactive mediaguidance application on the user equipment. The notification may serveto confirm to a user of remote access user device 440 that the actionrequest was successfully communicated to and executed by the userequipment. The notification may be received through communicationsdevice 472 by any suitable means. Remote access server 460 may pass thenotification on to remote access client 442 through communications path482. In other embodiments, the notification may be alternatively (oradditionally) received by remote access user device 440 throughcommunications device 452 from the interactive media guidanceapplication.

In practice, one or more steps shown in process 900 may be combined withother steps, performed in any suitable order, performed in parallel(e.g., simultaneously or substantially simultaneously) or removed.

FIGS. 10A and 10B collectively show illustrative process 1000 formanaging and correcting disparities that may be found between programlistings data when providing remote access to functions on interactivemedia guidance applications. Process 1000 may be used in combinationwith process 900 of FIG. 9A. At step 1012, an action request, such asthe action request of FIG. 9A, is received on the user equipment. Theaction request may be received from remote access server 460 (FIG. 4) orthrough an intermediate server such as media guidance access server 490(FIG. 4) for the media service provider of the interactive mediaguidance application. The process continues to step 1014.

At step 1014, the interactive media guidance application locates, in themedia guidance information (e.g., media guidance data source 418 of FIG.4) provided by a media service provider, the corresponding programinformation for which the requested action will be scheduled. Thecorresponding program information is located based on schedulinginformation received in the action request. In some embodiments, theaction request may include, for example, the start time and the channelfor the program for which the action is requested without including theactual program identifier. The program identifier for the correspondingprogram may be located by the interactive media guidance application onthe user equipment or by the media service provider for the interactivemedia guidance application and passed through to the interactive mediaguidance application on the user equipment. The search for thecorresponding program information may be controlled by processor 300(FIG. 3) in user equipment devices 402, 404, and/or 406 (all of FIG. 4)or any other processor associated with the interactive media guidanceapplication. In some embodiments the action request may include theappropriate program identifier for the media service provider of theinteractive media guidance application.

At step 1020, a determination is made whether program informationcorresponding to the scheduling information included in the actionrequest has been located in media guidance data source 418 (FIG. 4). Ifthe interactive media guidance application is unable to locate thecorresponding program information, an acknowledge may be transmitted tothe remote access server at step 1024 to indicate that the requestedaction was not scheduled. If the interactive media guidance applicationis able to locate the corresponding program information, the processcontinues to step 1022.

At step 1022, the corresponding program information from the local guidedata (e.g., channel, start time, and program title) is transmitted tothe remote access server in an acknowledgment from the interactive mediaguidance application on the user equipment. For example, XML file 810may be transmitted to the remote access server in acknowledgement to theaction request received at step 1012. The interactive media guidanceapplication may transmit the acknowledgement to the remote accessservice without first scheduling the requested action on the userequipment. In these embodiments, the action request may be stored onmedia guidance access server 490 (FIG. 4) of a media service providerand/or on the user equipment (e.g., on storage 308 of processor 300 in402, 404, and/or 406) while waiting for the remote access server toinstruct the user equipment at step 1080 (described in more detailbelow) to proceed to schedule the action based on the correspondingprogram information transmitted to the remote access server at step 1022above. The process continues to step 1026.

At step 1026, the acknowledgment is received by remote access server460. The acknowledgement may be received through communications device472 by any suitable means. In some embodiments, remote access server 460may pass the acknowledgement on to remote access client 442 throughcommunications path 482. In other embodiments, the acknowledgement maybe alternatively (or additionally) received by remote access user device440 through communications device 452 (all of FIG. 4) from theinteractive media guidance application.

At step 1060, using the program information included in theacknowledgment received from the interactive media guidance application,a determination is made whether a disparity exists between the programinformation for the program in remote access server 460 and the programinformation for the program in the local guide data used by theinteractive media guidance application on user equipment 402, 404,and/or 406 (all of FIG. 4). This determination may be made by remoteaccess user device 440 (FIG. 4) or by remote access server 460 (FIG. 4).For example, program title included in the acknowledgment in XML file810 (FIG. 8B) may be compared with the corresponding program title inthe remote access data. In the illustration presented in screen 700(FIG. 7A) the user intended to schedule a recording of an episode of“The Crocodile Hunter” with the interactive media guidance application.However, when the selected channel and start time were transmitted tothe interactive media guidance application in XML file 800 (FIG. 8A),the interactive media guidance application responded withacknowledgement XML file 810 (FIG. 8B) indicating that the programcorresponding to the channel and start time was “Sex and the City.” Inthis instance, the remote access server may compare the program titleincluded in XML file 810 with the corresponding program title for theschedule in the remote access data to detect the disparity.

If no disparity is detected at step 1060, the process continues to step1080 where the requested action is scheduled with the interactive mediaguidance application on the user equipment. The interactive mediaguidance application may schedule a recording, set up a reminder, orschedule some other program-specific action for the program located bythe interactive media guidance application in step 1020. Depending onthe options contained in the action request, the interactive mediaguidance application may also schedule other actions related to theaction request such as, for example, scheduling a future date for whenthe recorded program may be deleted from the user equipment.

If a disparity is detected at step 1060, the process continues to step1061. At step 1061, remote access server 460 transmits a search requestfor alternate scheduling information for the program to media guidanceaccess server 490 and/or to media guidance data source 418 (all of FIG.4). The search request may include a SQL-based query for programinformation meeting certain criteria. For example, in the illustrationdiscussed above in connection with step 1060, the search request mayinclude a SQL-based query for all channel and start times associatedwith all programs whose program title contains the word “Crocodile.”

At step 1062, using the search request transmitted by the remote accessserver, a search may be performed on media guidance data source 418(FIG. 4) for alternate scheduling information for the target program forwhich the user intended to schedule the action. The search may beperformed on one or more media guidance data sources 418 for one or moremedia service providers. In addition to the program title, the searchmay consider additional program information such series identifier,program rating, standard/high definition indicator, episode title, andany combination of these properties.

Complex, flexible matching algorithms that may support exact matchtechniques and/or partial or “fuzzy” matching logic (e.g., searching fora closest match) may be used by the search to locate alternatescheduling information for the program. During the search, programinformation associated with programs on different channels may becompared to program information for the target program selected by theuser. Based on the degree of similarity between the program informationfor a program and the target program selected by the user, a “similarityrating” may be assigned to that particular program for that channel. Thesimilarity rating may be determined using any suitable algorithm orweighting logic. For example, a substantial similarity between programtitles and/or episode titles may be weighted more heavily in thesimilarity rating algorithm than an exact match between program ratinginformation. Program information for programs on a plurality of channelsassociated with media guidance data source 418 (FIG. 4) may be searched.Searching for alternate scheduling information may involve searchingalternate scheduling information from a plurality of media serviceproviders (e.g., cable service providers and satellite serviceproviders), whether that information is stored in one database or aplurality of databases. For example, searching for alternate schedulinginformation may involve searching a plurality of databases for mediaguidance data source 418 (FIG. 4), in which each database is associatedwith a different media service provider. In some embodiments, remoteaccess server 460 may have direct access to media guidance data source418. In these embodiments, remote access server 460 may by-pass mediaguidance access server 490 and perform a search on media guidance datasource 418 using a remote access connection. It should be noted that thesimilarity rating algorithms discussed above may occur at remote accessserver 460 (FIG. 4) after the initial search results are received fromthe media guidance access server at step 1063 (described below). Forexample, the remote access server may request (at step 1061) a “crude”set of program information that may potentially match the target programand refine this set to narrow it down to the closest matches. When thesearch is completed, the process continues to step 1063.

At step 1063, remote access server 460 receives the search results frommedia guidance access server 490 or alternatively from media guidancedata source 418 (all of FIG. 4). The search result may include programinformation sets for all programs matching the search query.Alternatively, the remote access server and/or media guidance accessserver may set a maximum number of program information sets to bereturned in the results. In some embodiments, the results may includeadditional status indicator informing the remote access server of thenumber of results returned by the query and/or some other status indiciafor the query. The process continues at step 1064.

At step 1064, a determination is made whether alternate schedulinginformation is found for the original program selected by the user. Theremote access system may set minimum matching requirements for decidingwhether appropriate alternate scheduling information has been located.In a typical usage scenario, the remote access system may use a“substantial similarity” test. In some embodiments, only schedulinginformation for programs having similarity ratings that satisfy thepredetermined minimum criterion may pass the substantial similarity testand, consequently, be considered alternate scheduling information forthe original program selected by the user. For example, assume that thesimilarity rating for the program information for a program associatedwith a channel may range from 0 to 100, where 0 indicates that theprogram is completely mismatched with the original program selected bythe user, and 100 indicates an exact match with the original programselected by the user. In an illustrative substantial similarity test,the remote access system may set a predetermined minimum criterion thatprogram information for the program may be considered alternatescheduling information for the original program selected by the useronly if it has a similarity rating that is 50 or higher. If no otherprogram passes the substantial similarity test, the remote access systemmay conclude that alternate scheduling information could not be locatedfor the original program selected by the user. Note that the actualmethod for determining similarity between two or more programs may bebased on any appropriate test or algorithm without deviating from thespirit of the invention. If alternate scheduling information is notfound, the process may continue to step 1070 (described in more detailbelow) where corrective action may be taken, and to step 1074 where theuser is informed that the action request could not be scheduled.Otherwise, the process may continue to step 1066.

At step 1066, the remote access user device or the remote access servermay transmit alternate scheduling information to the user equipment (orto a service provider for subsequent transmission to the interactivemedia guidance application). The remote access system may also setminimum matching requirements for choosing which of severalclose-matching alternate scheduling information sets to transmit to theinteractive media guidance application on the user equipment. In someembodiments, the program information for all channels that satisfy thepredetermined minimum criterion as described in step 1062 may betransmitted. In other embodiments, the program information for only thechannel with the highest similarity rating may be transmitted. In stillother embodiments, up to a predetermined number of program informationfor channels with highest similarity ratings may be transmitted. Thealternate scheduling information may be transmitted in XML formatsimilar to XML file 800 (FIG. 8). If alternate scheduling informationincludes scheduling information from multiple programs, the remoteaccess server may send one XML file 800 each for the alternatescheduling information for each program, or send one XML file 800including a list of the alternate scheduling information for allprograms. After alternate scheduling information is transmitted, theprocess may continue to steps 1068 (described below) and 1070.

At step 1070, remote access server 460 may transmit informationregarding the disparity to a provider of program information for theremote access service. The data provider may use the disparityinformation to improve the accuracy of program information available tothe remote access server for future request. In addition to transmittinginformation about the disparity, the remote access server may also storeat least a portion of this information at step 1072 for use in futureaction requests to interactive media guidance applications on userequipment devices using the same media service provider.

At step 1068, the interactive media guidance application of mediaguidance system 400 receives alternate scheduling information forscheduling the requested action. Similar to step 1012 described above,the interactive media guidance application on user equipment 402, 404and/or 406 (all of FIG. 4) may receive the alternate schedulinginformation from the remote access server or alternatively, from a mediaguidance access server 490 (FIG. 4) of a media service provider for theinteractive media guidance application. After the interactive mediaguidance application receives alternate scheduling information, theprocess may continue at step 1080 (described above) where theinteractive media guidance application on the user equipment schedulesthe action for the program based on the alternate schedulinginformation.

In practice, one or more steps shown in process 1000 may be combinedwith other steps, performed in any suitable order, performed in parallel(e.g., simultaneously or substantially simultaneously) or removed. Otherembodiments of processes that may be used in conjunction with process900 of FIG. 9A are described in Klappert, U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/643,507 filed Dec. 20, 2006, which is herein incorporated byreference in its entirety.

It will be appreciated that while the discussion of media content hasfocused on video content, the principles of media guidance can beapplied to other types of media content, such as music, images, andmulti-media content.

The above described embodiments of the present invention are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentinvention is limited only by the claims which follow.

1-66. (canceled)
 67. A method for remotely accessing user equipment, themethod comprising: storing, in a database, a first association between afirst type of user request and a first plurality of action requests anda second association between a second type of user request and a secondplurality of action requests, wherein each of the first plurality ofaction requests corresponds to a different user equipmentcharacteristic; receiving a user request of a given type from a firstuser equipment; determining which of the first and second typescorresponds to the given type of the received user request; in responseto determining that the given type of the received user requestcorresponds to the first type: identifying, in the database, an actionrequest of the first plurality of action requests that is associatedwith the determined first type of user request; and transmitting theidentified action request to a second user equipment in a format that iscompatible with a characteristic of the second user equipment.
 68. Themethod of claim 67, wherein determining which of the first and secondtypes corresponds to the given type of the received user request furthercomprises identifying the first user equipment.
 69. The method of claim67, wherein an interactive media guidance application is used to receivethe user request, and to transmit the identified action request to thesecond user equipment.
 70. The method of claim 67, further comprisingselecting the format that is compatible with the characteristic of thesecond user equipment from a plurality of formats based at least in parton the characteristic of the second user equipment.
 71. The method ofclaim 67, wherein the characteristic of the second user equipmentcomprises a user account provided by a provider of an interactive mediaguidance application implemented on the second user equipment.
 72. Themethod of claim 67, wherein the characteristic of the second userequipment includes a vendor of the second user equipment and a model ofthe second user equipment.
 73. The method of claim 67, whereinidentifying in the database an action request of the first plurality ofaction requests comprises maintaining a lookup table thatcross-references the received user request with a plurality of formatsincluding the first user equipment format.
 74. The method of claim 67,wherein transmitting the identified action request comprisestransmitting the identified action request to a media service providerand the second user equipment.
 75. The method of claim 67, wherein thereceived action request is in a format compatible with a firstapplication program interface and the transmitted identified actionrequest is compatible with a second application program interfacedifferent from the first application program interface.
 76. The methodof claim 67, further comprising transmitting a notification to the firstuser equipment that acknowledges the receipt by the second userequipment of the identified action request.
 77. A system for remotelyaccessing user equipment, the system comprising: control circuitryconfigured to: store, in a database, a first association between a firsttype of user request and a first plurality of action requests and asecond association between a second type of user request and a secondplurality of action requests, wherein each of the first plurality ofaction requests corresponds to a different user equipmentcharacteristic; receive a user request of a given type from a first userequipment; determine which of the first and second types corresponds tothe given type of the received user request; in response to determiningthat the given type of the received user request corresponds to thefirst type: identify, in the database, an action request of the firstplurality of action requests that is associated with the determinedfirst type of user request; and transmit the identified action requestto a second user equipment in a format that is compatible with acharacteristic of the second user equipment.
 78. The system of claim 77,wherein the control circuitry configured to determine which of the firstand second types corresponds to the given type of the received userrequest is further configured to identify the first user equipment. 79.The system of claim 77, wherein an interactive media guidanceapplication is used to receive the user request, and to transmit theidentified action request to the second user equipment.
 80. The systemof claim 77, wherein the control circuitry is further configured toselect the format that is compatible with the characteristic of thesecond user equipment from a plurality of formats based at least in parton the characteristic of the second user equipment.
 81. The system ofclaim 77, wherein the characteristic of the second user equipmentcomprises a user account provided by a provider of an interactive mediaguidance application implemented on the second user equipment.
 82. Thesystem of claim 77, wherein the characteristic of the second userequipment includes a vendor of the second user equipment and a model ofthe second user equipment.
 83. The system of claim 77, wherein thecontrol circuitry configured to identify in the database an actionrequest of the first plurality of action requests is further configuredto maintain a lookup table that cross-references the received userrequest with a plurality of formats including the first user equipmentformat.
 84. The system of claim 77, wherein the control circuitryconfigured to transmit the identified action request is furtherconfigured to transmit the identified action request to a media serviceprovider and the second user equipment.
 85. The system of claim 77,wherein the received action request is in a format compatible with afirst application program interface and the transmitted identifiedaction request is compatible with a second application program interfacedifferent from the first application program interface.
 86. The systemof claim 77, the control circuitry further configured to transmit anotification to the first user equipment that acknowledges the receiptby the second user equipment of the identified action request.